


Welcome to Kepler

by HerNameIsCaroline



Series: TAZ: Amnesty [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast), The Adventure Zone: Amnesty - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-04 15:47:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14596344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerNameIsCaroline/pseuds/HerNameIsCaroline
Summary: Rebecca Buxley keeps finding Duck Newton's apathetic attitude infuriating, which makes her developing fondness for him even more frustrating.This follows the events of the Amnesty arc of The Adventure Zone, with an additional OC thrown in. She's based on "The Expert" class and is mentored by Mama.This WILL be completed, it is just momentarily on hold.





	1. Chapter One

Kepler was a sleepy little town nestled in the alpine woodlands of West Virginia. Though once a bustling tourist destination, the development of neighboring ski lodges have slowed the foot traffic through the town. Many of the residents have worked hard at making Kepler an appealing place to visit again, although some of their methods were a bit more… _unorthodox_ compared to others. At least, as far as Duck Newton was concerned.

Duck was particularly on edge today because he’d just had another vision. It was fairly simple, taking place in the Monongahela forest, a place that Duck was more than familiar with. This part of the forest was unfamiliar to him, however. In a clearing in the center of the pine forest stood an archway. It reminded Duck vaguely of Stonehenge; stone slabs stacked haphazardly and somehow beckoning to him. A sharp gust of wind blew through the clearing, originating at the archway. Just as it made contact with Duck, he jerked awake.

The phone on his cluttered desk was ringing. He had fallen asleep at his desk during the night shift in the Monongahela Forest ranger station. He answered the phone, mumbled a hello, and jotted the distress call details down on his pocket notepad before getting to his feet. His body protested as he did so, a few joints popping here and there. His neck was tense from the angle he was bent over his desk.

It was a beautiful night. Duck inhaled deeply when he stepped outside, the cool breeze coming off of the river dancing along his skin. As summer faded away, the nights were growing less balmy. Something Duck was grateful for. He preferred Autumn.

The call was about a noisy camper in RV lot number five, who also seemed to have started a massive bonfire. Duck hustled over there, eager to avoid a forest fire if possible. The RV was at least parked properly, but it did look recently damaged. The front driver’s side was crumpled and missing its headlight. As he glanced around, he saw the trash receptacle upended and banged up. He swept the maglight around the rest of the lot, but other than the scattered trash and the remnants of the bonfire, there was nothing.

Before approaching the RV, he noticed that the lights were off and the hair on his neck stood up. He felt like something fishy was definitely going on, and hesitated for a moment. His neck prickled again as he heard a shotgun shell being loaded just behind the door to the RV. He could tell that its owner was nervous because of how sloppy it sounded. They must be shaking.

He decided to stand away from the door and called out to the occupant, hoping not to startle them. His voice was loud and clear.

“Excuse me?”

The second he yelled, the shotgun fired. It didn’t penetrate the door, but a sizable dent could be seen where the shot landed. The owner yelped when she shot, clearly ansty with an itchy trigger finger. Duck grabbed his radio and put out a call for police support, promising to update the other end on the situation. Just after he made the call, he heard a voice from within the trailer say,

“Aw shit, I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Sorry sorry sorry! Are you okay out there? Did I hit anybody?”

Duck sighed. “You are, my friend, you are in violation of now several park rules. Number one, obviously, you’ve got a fire situation we need to deal with. Number two, well it’s not ranger season, partner, and these grounds are--” He heaved another sigh and ran a hand over his face. The door to the RV slid open.

The young woman placed the shotgun on the floor before opening it and had her hands raised, which she slowly lowered when she noticed that Duck wasn’t a cop. She seemed young, about twenty, attempting to hide a bottle of Yuengling out of Duck’s line of sight. She spoke in a southern drawl,

“What’s uh, what’s your name.”

“My name is Duck Newton.”

She laughed aloud at that, still clearly nervous, but calming down.

“You’re kidding me. Duck?”

Duck was used to this response by now and replied flatly, “It’s a nickname.”

Her face changed, and she held up her hands, “Oh, no no, my name is Pigeon! That’s, that’s crazy man. What are the odds?”

“Don’t that beat all? Uh, listen,” he droned, “we need to get this fire under control. This is a real danger to the park and this is a little bit of a dry season for us, so we’ve got sort of elevated risk, and we’re gonna need you to bring that down. Obviously, trying to shoot me with a shotgun… was a problem, but I don’t have the ability to arrest you or anything. What’s going on?”

Although Pigeon had laughed at their name incident, she was now beginning to look nervous again. She shakily grabbed the Yuengling from the floor, no longer bothering to hide her rule breaking from Duck.

“I know it’s against the rules, but if you had the kind of night I’ve been having, I don’t think you’d do any better.” She took a swig. “I need to keep that fire going, because, I ran into something out in the woods. Me and my buddy, Pete, we ran out into something in the woods, and he’s still out there, somewhere. We were looking for mushrooms, and we got attacked, by some big motherfucker, some kind of like- it was a bear but I’ve seen bears, and this was like, this was like, several bears sort of all rolled up into one superbear. I built that fire to try to keep him away, but I know I was breaking the rules, but I was just kind of waiting for it to go off, before I go out and try to find my buddy again.”

Duck stared at her, lips pressed into a thin line for a moment before speaking.

“Listen, I like a story as much as anybody. What is- is it Friday night? That’s right, right? There’ll be traffic from the high school football game, so I’m assuming…” He let out a sigh and did the mental math, ”we got about twenty, thirty minutes before the cops get here, honestly, their response time isn’t great. Why don’t you do away with the story, I’ve got a little time to kill. Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on here? Are you hiding from somebody? You messed up with drugs? What’s the deal?”

She took another long drink. Duck crossed his arms.

“What kind of creature is it?”

“I told you, it was some kind of bear? It was so dark and I dropped my flashlight somewhere back there but uh, it has kind of patchy fur like, I don’t know how to describe it, like patchwork fur? Like it almost looked like it, it almost like it had a horn coming out of its body, not out of his head, like a bear unicorn or something, but out of its shoulder? And um, that’s about all I saw. It was big, man, it was about eight- eight feet tall or so? It was a big nasty bastard.”

“Did you say a big nasty badger?”

Pigeon couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not. “Ba-Bastard. It might have been a big badger, I don’t know. It was dark.”

“Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean it’s not impossible. Uh, did you see which way it went?”

She pointed behind herself to the woods behind lot five. “It uh, sort of pursued me here to my camp but when it got to me, it sort of turned tail and ran away as soon as it got close to the camp. That’s why I built that fire. Yeah, it just turned tail and ran right back in there.”

When Duck’s gaze followed where she was pointing, he noticed a trail of broken branches leading deeper into the woods, as well as several puddles of black ooze. Pigeon piped up when he pointed the goo out to her.

“Ah yeah, I did, uh... I did shoot it, which is probably also not okay, but like, my life was in danger, it was self-defense, but I’ll tell you bud, it didn’t seem to do much of anything. So um, I guess it’s not illegal if it doesn’t really hurt the animal.”

“Well, it’s obviously still illegal. I think both you and I know that.”

“Listen… I can’t- I’m kind of nervous about- I heard you call the cops earlier, I know you said they’re on their way. Is there any way you can kind of wave them off? I swear to God, I was attacked and everything I’ve done is sort of in response to that and I’m pretty freaked out right now and I really don’t wanna go to the pokey, which... is not what human beings call it, I’m just really nervous.”

Duck chuckled a bit.

“Pigeon, what’s your last name Pigeon?”

“Wilson, Pigeon Wilson.”

“Wilson. Are you- are you Vicky’s girl? Ahh, alright. Listen, I can tell you’re pretty scared and you didn’t mean to take a shot at me. Honestly, I mind less about that than the fire. You know, some of these trees- look around you, some of these are 60 years old, can you imagine? Loose match, cigarette, 60 years old, just gone. That’s what bothers—”

“Yeah no- That’d be horrible.” She nodded vehemently in agreement.

“I’ll make you a deal. If you can promise me to never to start an open flame like this again and only occasionally taking shots at rangers with shotguns, then I think we can wave them off. They’re probably gonna have quite a few drunks to take care of anyway.”

She laughed in relief as Duck called of the cops. He blamed an overactive imaginations and cherry bombs on the gun blast. With the relieved smile still plastered on her face, she stepped forward and hugged Duck.

“Oh, Duck! Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. I-I swear. I’m done with fire, I’m pretty much done with shooting at rangers. I just- I would say I’m relieved, but I’m still pretty worried about Pete. He’s my buddy, he’s still out there somewhere. We got separated while we were running away. Do you think you could try to see where he’s at? Try to find him for me?”

Duck gave her a quick uncomfortable pat on the back. “Yeah. I’ll try and go for a look. No promises, it’s a big forest.”

“Okay. Um, are you uh, are you packin’ heat? ‘Cause I’m real worried now about the bear and you getting hurt by the bear. Are you strapped?”

“I’m not strapped, but I’m also not gonna engage.”

Pigeon leaned into the RV and pulled out a hunting rifle, handing it to Duck without hesitation.

“I know you don’t wanna engage but it might wanna engage with you. Are you sure you don’t wanna take…?”

“Pigeon, you brought a lot of guns out here, eh?”

She assured him that this was Pete’s, and after making a mental note to check that Pete had the correct license for this, Duck had just one more thing to say to her.

“The problem I’m having, Pigeon, is about the biggest animal we have in these parts is the good ol’ Ursus Americanus, the black bear. That’s our state bear, you know that?”

“Yeah, everybody knows that, take West Virginia History, but uh-”

“Quick, state flower: Go!”

“The rhododendron. but I’ll tell you, Duck, you’re wrong about that bud, you’ve got something way bigger in these woods.”

 

* * *

 

Rebecca sat in the lobby of a resort in Snowshoe, West Virginia, watching an amateur magic performance. She had followed her mentor, Mama, here to drop off a statue for the resort, and as she was conducting business, her protege lingered around the back of the lobby, passing time with the show. The magician herself seemed to be about Rebecca’s age, 25, and had crimson hair, several piercings, and a leather jacket on. After the magician revealed her pet bunny as part of her act, she tried to call Mama onstage as she joined Rebecca in watching.

“No I’m good, thank you though.” She gestured over to a nearby children’s party. “Why don’t you take one of them instead? I feel like they’d get a kick out of it.”

The magician played it off well and called up who could be assumed as the birthday boy from the party. He readjusted the paper crown on his head and clambered onto the stage with a determined expression. She had the boy choose a card and show it to the bunny, Dr. Harris Bonkers as he was called. Rebecca chuckled, amused by the name, and Mama gave her a sideways glance.

Next, the magician had the kid concentrate on his card and gently touched her finger to the back of it. Now, Rebecca expected some other little fire trick, like what was included in the rest of the show, but instead… all hell broke loose.

The card vanished in a big burst of flame. The kid hopped off the stage, startled, and by the expression on the magician’s face, this was clearly not the desired effect of the trick. In the blink of an eye, the curtain behind her makeshift stage had also ignited, and she withdrew a fire extinguisher from under her table.

_Well, at least she’s prepared._

There was something _off_ about the whole ordeal, though, and glancing at Mama confirmed Rebecca’s suspicion. She was staring curiously at the magician before jerking her head to the door and leading the pair of them out and back to her pick up truck. She unlocked it for Rebecca and said,

“Wait here a moment, hon.’”

She returned to the car just as emergency vehicles were arriving, the magician in tow. Both of the women squished into the truck on either side of Rebecca

“Rebecca, this is Aubrey.”

Rebecca nodded to her in greeting. “I’m Rebecca.” Aubrey reached for her hand and she shook it, giving her a nervous smile. Mama reached over and shook Aubrey’s hand as well.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Mama.”

And they made their way back to Kepler.

 


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this one a little fast so please let me know if you find any errors!

Duck had been following the… thing? Creature? For over an hour now. He had mostly been pursuing the black ooze glinting off of his flashlight’s beam as he travelled deeper into the forest. He was well away from the trails and lights of the campgrounds now, so he was confused when he saw another light shining further ahead. It was low to the ground, beaming in his direction, cutting through the trees, unmoving.

As he approached the light, his eyes adjusted to it and the awaiting scene was clear to him. The source of the light turned out to be a flashlight halfway submerged in a mud puddle. It was clearly dropped there and left behind. What was most notable to Duck, however, was the forest floor itself. There were several large patches of blackened grass, seemingly burned into odd patterns. The eerie silence was also noticeable. All ambient sounds of crickets chirping, owls hooting, or even the rustling of greenery was absent. Suddenly, Duck was startled by a booming voice that he hadn’t heard in many, many years.

“Duck Newton! The moment of your destiny has arrived!”

And there standing before him was a familiar presence. The last time he had seen her was his eighteenth birthday. The figure before him was translucent and pale blue, seemingly made of light. She was feminine in appearance, about six feet tall with a long neck and bald head. None of her features were really visible, but her presence shook Duck. Seeing her here right now meant that all the strange “dreams” from his youth weren’t dreams at all.

“There is no more time to delay, Duck Newton. Events have been put into motion that require your immediate action.”

“All right.”

And with that, Duck turned on his heel and walked away.

“Duck Newton, wait! I must know if you’ve been training your body to achieve and maintain peak physical capabilities, Duck Newton!”

Duck sighed. “Well, I...you know what I did try that, uh...crossfit. Darren opened up one of them crossfit places, they do BAIT during the day and during the evenings they do CrossFit. And I tried it, I’ll be honest that was a little…” He trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. He was never great at being rude to people who didn’t really deserve it.

“And did you master this martial art of crossed fit, Duck Newton?”

“Well, the first class was free, but honestly the way my schedule is sometimes I didn’t think I’d be able to dedicate as much time as it required to really make the membership pay off. You know how it goes.”

The vision disappeared and reappeared right beside him, examining him closely.

“Where is your Chosen weapon, Duck Newton? Where is the instrument of your destiny?”

“I, uh,” He clicked his tongue awkwardly. “You know what, honestly, it kinda creeped me out, so I had a friend hold on to it. It was kind of just, I’ll be honest, it kinda wigged me out, you know. I mean, I don’t know, I’m not even gonna say I have a design aesthetic, but weird bendy sword doesn’t exactly fit whatever it is that I’m trying to achieve. You know how it goes.”

She stood up to her full height again and said, “Duck Newton, I know well of your hesitance. But you must know that I have waited long enough. It is now the time—”

Just then, Duck heard a sound a few dozen feet away in the woods. The snapping of a branch, a monstrous, heaving sigh, and then steady huffing breaths moving rapidly in his direction. The vision looked around at the noise and said,

“Duck Newton, are you in dang—”

And then she was gone. The prickling sensation that often preceded danger crawled over Duck’s body, and he sharply turned towards the source of the sound. As the beam of his flashlight bounced around the clearing, the pattern of black grass was clearer to him. It wasn’t random images and patterns as he thought, but resembled shadowy animals burned into the grass. The image was a jumbled mass of these shapes. Clearly visible was a deer, and a few wolfish figures. All recognizable as local wildlife.

Out of the corner of his eye, Duck noticed movement amongst the treeline. He cast his flashlight on the shape and saw exactly what Pigeon had described. A hulking, eight foot tall figure was moving toward him, and as his light roved over its body, not one pair of eyes reflected the light back at him, but several in odd places all over the thing. Once it knew it was spotted, the creature let out a roar and began sprinting at Duck.

In a moment that was a mixture of instinct and panic, Duck raised the hunting rifle and… promptly chucked it at the beast’s head. He threw the gun as hard as he could before sprinting away, back the way he came. But it turned out Duck wasn’t nearly fast enough, and it didn’t take long for the creature to catch up to him. He felt the beast collide with him, swiping him with its massive paw, knocking him to the ground. He rolled several feet across the ground, losing his flashlight and radio in the process.

The monster overcompensated as it rammed into Duck, and continued barrelling through the brush. Duck scrambled to his feet and glanced around for his flashlight. He saw that it had landed near the other fallen light and was now pointing into a patch of bramble. The beam fell across the terrified face of a young man wearing coke-bottle glasses and a blue sweater. He stared back at Duck, arms over his head in a protective gesture.

Upon seeing this man, Duck was filled with a determination that he rarely felt when needing to find bravery. He couldn’t leave this guy in danger, especially not one of the park guests that it’s his job to protect. The monster still had its back to him, so he charged up to it and kicked its ass. Literally… kicked it in the ass.

It didn’t even register as pain for the beast, just an annoyance, much like a mosquito bite. It turned its attention back to Duck, who now stood between it and the park guest. Thankfully, the creature didn’t seem to notice the man in the bramble, and Duck took this opportunity to lead the monster away and make a grab for his radio in the process. He dove for the radio, closing his fist around it just as another swipe made contact with his back. He wasn’t hurt, but rolled even further away this time before clambering up again. The creature bolted towards him again, and as he ran and lead the thing away from the scene, he cranked the volume on his radio up all the way.

“Come in, we got an emergent situation, I have a… God, alright, unknown assailant and—” The creature roared out again and Duck’s yells became more frantic. “I’m just north of the Cranberry River, and uh, I need immediate- I guess, air support. I know it’s gonna be too long for y’all to get out here but I’m sorta making an immediate egress away to the south. I’m headed towards the river. So just follow the river and you’ll see me. Please confirm very loudly that you heard.”

Nothing but static in response. Duck fiddled with a few knobs with as much accuracy as possible before finally hearing a muffled voice come over.

“ --I can’t hear you. Duck? Duck, come in.”

“Yeah, I’m here!”

The radio static got louder now, and it wasn’t the usual “National Quiet Zone” static either, but as if something was jamming the signal.

“Alright, we’re gonna send out someone to try and find you Duck. Where… Duck? I can’t hear you, Duck.”

Duck lost his grip on the radio as his foot caught on a branch. The signal was lost, and the only sounds now were his panting breaths and the din of the monster crashing through the trees in pursuit. He kept running. What else could he do? There was no time to stop and look for it. Branches whipped across his face and the sounds of the monster got quieter and quieter before they finally died out. Duck paused to catch his breath in a clearing, the feeling of safety washing over him. The brilliant moonlight overhead shone down on the center of the clearing, where Duck’s eyes fell on a massive, haphazard stone gate.

 

* * *

 

Mama’s truck cruised down the highway as an awkward silence stretched between its occupants. Dusk was now falling. The trees lining the road were finally beginning to lose the first of their leaves as summer came to a close. Rebecca couldn’t help being relieved that she didn’t hear police sirens following them. Aubrey was beside her, craning her neck around to nervously check behind them. Mama was the one to break the silence.

“Now you don’t worry too much about the fuzz, okay? I’ve got some pull with the owners of that hotel, that gaudy shithole.”

She and Rebecca chuckled at the remark, but Aubrey didn’t seem convinced.

“Oh, okay, great.”

“They ain’t gonna bother you none,” Mama said reassuringly.

“Well, that leads me to my next question then, I guess. So, are you gonna kill me or what?”  
  
“No.” Mama didn’t even blanche at the question.  
  
“Is this like, ‘You’re driving me somewhere and you’re gonna murder me’ kinda thing? What… who the fuck are you, I guess, is now my immediate concern.”

Rebecca cleared her throat before joining the conversation, “We’re not planning on murderin’ you, that’s sorta not our MO.”

“That would be exactly what someone who was planning to murder me would say.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes, but Mama smiled a bit before reaching into the breast pocket of her duster. Aubrey visibly tensed, due to the context of the situation, but Mama just withdrew her ziplock bag of baby carrots, ripped it open with her teeth, and handed it across Rebecca to Aubrey.

“Doc says I gotta eat these for my ticker. I figured your little buddy might be hungry.”

“Um, I’m sorry? My little buddy?” The magician seemed affronted.

“Your magic rabbit. Dr. Bonkers.”

“Thank you. Thank you for using his name and title. He worked hard to get that PhD.”

Silence fell again as Dr. Bonkers munched on his snack before Mama broke it once again.

“This is gonna be kind of a strange question maybe, but, you really are human? Aren’t you?”

Aubrey replied with a hesitant, “Yes?”

“Well,”  said Rebecca, “She did warn you it was gonna be a strange question.”  
  
“Fair. Yeah. Alright, yeah. Human on my mother and father’s side. Is anything else an… is that an option?”

The two _professionals_ laughed.

“Yeah,” said Mama, “and you’re gonna learn a lot of stuff tonight I think, and one of ‘em is that it is definitely, definitely an option. What I don’t understand is how you’re able to use magic if you don’t know the truth of the matter.”

“Oh, um, well, it’s a lot of flash paper and these gloves have strikers in ‘em.”

“Yeah, that’s all great, but we can’t keep doin’ this. It’s gonna make sense here in a little bit. And you’ve really never been to Kepler before?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Well that’s a shame,” said Rebecca, “‘Cause… it’s the best town on Earth.”  
  
As she said that, the truck passed through one last stretch of woods, the trees cleared, and there was Kepler. They were on the river side of town at the moment, named for the proximity to the Greenbrier River that cut across the southern border. The highway they were on turned into the town’s main road and they were suddenly passing through the quaint town center that Rebecca had fallen in love with over the years. They passed by all the town staples; the Cryptonomica, local grocer, arcade, winter sports supply store, the Pizza Hut, the much preferred Giovanni’s Pizza, and government buildings.

They drove through a few residential blocks before Mama made a hairpin left turn and began driving up the winding road that climbed up the mountain face to the town’s north. They drove past more residencies, a few ritzy-looking chalets on the cliff’s edge, and some resorts before reaching the end of the road. Mama turned down the familiar dirt road and Rebecca couldn’t help a smile from creeping onto her face as they returned home after a hectic day.

“Okay, so just real quick I wanna circle back on the “Not going to murder me” thing, right?” Said Aubrey, “We could have stopped at Giovanni’s back there. That would have been fine.”

“Oh, are you hungry?” Replied Mama, “I can getcha a hot meal here in a little bit, but--”

“No, not in a little bit,” Rebecca interrupted, pointing out the window, “We’re here.”

“Here” was a large building at the end of this dirt road, with a wooden sign hanging over the entrance that read Amnesty Lodge. There was a wooden plank path cutting through a charming, well-tended garden, and up to a geodesic wooden dome that served as the lodge’s central lobby. Branching off either side of that central hub were the lodge’s two guest wings, which had a natural log-cabin aesthetic with lamplit verandas peeking out of each room. Mama lead Rebecca and Aubrey into the lobby, where a few guests were seated in handcrafted wooden chairs.

In the rear of this lobby was a large open space with windows looking outward into the woods. Dining tables were scattered about, with chairs stacked upside down on top of them as dinner service wasn’t running at the moment. There was a cut-out window in the dining space into a small kitchen. There was a faint smell of sulfur in the air, and a small sign hanging in the entrance to one of the guest wings directing guests to a hot spring behind the building. The large hearth in the middle of this room was unlit, but just being in this building, just being in the Amnesty Lodge made Rebecca feel warm.

A young blond man dressed in snowboarder’s gear came running out of the wings towards the entrance. Mama intercepted him and said,

“Don’t go out tonight, Jake, I need you to make up a room for our new guest.”

Jake gave the three of them a “hang ten” and went back into the guest wing to get a room ready for Aubrey. Mama lead the party to a dining table.

“So, uh...are you hungry?” She said to Aubrey. “I can see if Barclay’s around to whip you up some food.”

“Um, you know, let’s talk about my hierarchy of needs. Right now, I just kinda wanna know what’s going on. Then burger.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good order of operations there. Alright, well, first things first, hey Dani, I need you to see somethin’.”

Dani put down her newspaper and fixed her eyes on Aubrey, but only after giving Rebecca a quizzical look. Mama rose to her feet and removed the grate from the hearth in the center of the room. Rebecca leaned forward, eager to see what Aubrey was capable of as Mama beckoned her over to test her stuff. A little flash of a flame appeared in Aubrey’s glove and hit the logs in the center of the hearth but didn’t really ignite. Mama sighed and said,

“No… Aubrey?”

“Yes?”

“Not- not the David Copperfield shit. I’m talkin’ about the—”

“Ew, gross! You go to Copperfield?!”  
  
“No, it’s just that it was the first thing that popped in mind, I’m talkin’… Aubrey? The real stuff.”

After a lot of focusing, deep breathing, and staring at the hearth, Aubrey was finally able to conjure a large blast of flame like the one during her show. Rebecca couldn’t resist clapping a little bit, and Aubrey was stunned at her newfound power. After Aubrey wrapped her mind around things a bit and Mama confirmed her suspicions with Dani, Mama bolted the front door before sitting herself and Aubrey back at the table.

“Alright, Aubrey Little, what do you wanna know?”


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm using a lot of stuff directly from the podcast, but my own flair will make its way into the story once all the characters are introduced to one another. Thanks for bearing with me! Hope the story is enjoyable~

Duck had walked these woods more days than nearly any other living human being, but for reasons beyond his understanding, he had never discovered this stone archway before. It was a humble thing, just two slabs of solid stone with a third perched atop them, much like stonehenge. The light of the full moon illuminated this clearing and Duck felt the sounds of the forest fade away as the vision appeared once again, several feet away and examining the archway.

“So this is your connection? Fascinating!” She said.

Duck scratched his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand…”

The sounds of the beast still pursuing him grew closer. The presence shot him an anxious look.

“You are not ready to face your destiny, Duck Newton, and yet you must. The people in the world beyond this gate will be your friends, regardless of what the people of your world try to tell you!”

“So I should just head on th…? Will the monster follow me through the gate? It just looks—Um, do you have a permit for this, by the way, or—?”  
The vision disregarded his question, instead saying,

“Enter the gateway, Duck Newton! You will be brave, Duck Newton! That is why you—”

She vanished again. All that remained was Duck, the beast, and the archway. Duck was frozen by his panic, listening to the beast’s growls growing louder as it grew closer and closer. The moon overhead reached its peak and the archway, once a clear window to the forest beyond it, now filled with a dazzling white light.

Duck was unnerved, flinching as sharp winds blew from the arch and whipped across his body. He tentatively approached, nervous fingers outstretched, barely brushing against the light. And suddenly, the clearing was quiet, the air was still, and the archway was empty once more.

 

* * *

 

“Um. So. I can magic? Magic is real?”

Mama, Aubrey, and Rebecca sat around a table in Amnesty lodge, still a bit tense. Mama answered Aubrey’s questions with more patience than Rebecca could muster.

“Yeah, Aubrey, what you did up there tonight was real, actual magic. So I guess that’s the first big thing: magic is real. Because there’s a place that magic comes from. There’s— I’m gonna try to take this slow so that your mind doesn’t literally dissolve, but—there’s another world, one that is connected to our own. And that connection, it’s popped up in so many places around the world throughout time, and right now it’s here in Kepler. And this other world, Aubrey, it’s an incredible place and a dangerous place, and us humans have been crossin’ over into it for, well, as long as we’ve been around, I guess, and we’ve been bringin’ back stories and folktales, which, surprise! They’re mostly true. But—but that connection, Aubrey, it ain’t a one-way thing. They’ve been crossin’ over too.”

Mama gave a nod to the other guests in the lobby, and although they still seemed uneasy, they all remove their protective accessories. Everyone had something different; bracelets, necklaces, rings, and watches were removed all around the lodge and one by one, the guests changed. The guests present revealed themselves as werewolves and spectres, but Aubrey’s eyes were drawn to Dani. Her skin began to glow, her eyes shifted to a dark orange hue, and her teeth transformed into pointed fangs.

Aubrey seemed to take it well, sitting stiff as a board and muttering,

“Oh, okay.”

Rebecca softened a little bit and gently put a hand on her arm, softly saying,

“You all right? We know this is a lot.”

“Yeah, no, I’ve watched movies and TV shows before, so this actually isn’t as surprising as you might think.”

Rebecca and Mama laughed. Mama visibly relaxed.

“Most people don’t take this as well, so I’m glad that you are.” Said Mama. “So, that’s the truth of the matter. Monsters are real. But as is the case with so many of life’s profound curiosities, well, there’s a lot more to it than just that.”  
Rebecca couldn’t help wondering what the future held. She wasn’t sure if it was curiosity about Aubrey’s powers and background or something else, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that _something big_ was happening in Kepler.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this one and the next are a lot of dialogue, but soon everyone is gonna meet up!

Duck stepped through the gate and found himself surrounded by light, just for a moment. The wind that was whipping at him from the stone archway still billowed around him while he was in this space, but just as quickly as it began, it stopped. He was somewhere new. Duck pressed a hand to his forehead, growing dizzy as he tried to take in his surroundings. Everything looked as though he were looking through stained glass, his vision shifting wildly, making him nauseous.

Along with waves of nausea, Duck felt boiling anger in the pit of his stomach, much to his confusion. Despite this disorientation, Duck realized that behind him there was another stone gate identical to the one he travelled through. This gate was enclosed inside of a larger stone structure. Massive pillars propped up the ceiling overhead, and through these pillars, the outside world was visible.

He could faintly make out bright, colorful shapes in the distance. Beyond some oddly round buildings was a massive castle, and in front of the castle was a large, jutting orange shape. Duck felt that anger growing inside him. It was an unnatural feeling to him, and alarmed him greatly, though not as much as the two figures before him. They responded to his sudden appearance with surprise, and then were upon him in an instant, jabbing him with dull, spear like weapons. Duck felt a shock course through his body, then fell unconscious.

 

* * *

 

Duck awoke in a small, dark room. His arms were bound to a wooden chair positioned in front of an enormous, sturdy table. Something soft was draped around his neck, and as he looked down he realized he was wearing a scarf that his captors had placed on him. Whatever it was made out of was incredibly soft. The disorientation and anger that Duck felt upon entering this place was now gone. He felt like himself again.

Across from Duck sat an imposing person in chainmail armor. They wore a tabard over their armor that featured an orange crystal radiating light. Duck could see two black, beady eyes through the slits in their helmet, which was adorned with two goat horns on top. Once sure Duck was fully conscious again, the person addressed him.

“You’re in a lot of trouble right now, but I want you to know that I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Because based on your outfit, I’m guessing you’re part of some sort of local woodland army, or forest militia, or something like that.”

Duck shifted in his chair.

“Yeah, that’ll do.”

“We’re both men of the law, and so I’m hoping we can come to an understanding here. I’m thinking maybe you just stumbled into the gate accidentally. Maybe you didn’t come here with any ill intent. Am I on the right track?”

“Yeah, I mean, that pretty much sums it up.”

“What’s your name, pal?”

“It’s Duck. Duck Newton.”

“Excellent name, powerful name. I’m Vincent.”

“It’s a nickname.”

“I’m Vincent, and uh, well, before we go any further I gotta know, and this is real important that you tell the truth now, all right? I need to know how you knew that the gate was there in the first place. Did the human called Mama tell you?”

“Mama? No, I don’t know… I mean, I know my mama, but I don’t know _a_ Mama. To be honest, uh, it was just sort of there, man. I don’t know. It just sort of appeared. I was being pursued by a large, I would say non-earth bear, maybe. I dunno, I ain’t never seen its like. And I just kinda ran for the gate, I’ll be honest I don’t really have a great explanation for you. I’ll say this, you know, I’m not freaking out right now, I’ve seen some weird shit in the past and narrowly avoided being sorta looped up in it, seems that ship has sailed, but I’m, you know, all non-malicious on my part.”

Vincent took out a small notebook and began jotting down what Duck was saying, almost like he was taking a statement. He looked over his notes once he was done, tapping at a point with his pencil.

“A big, non-earth bear, huh? Well it sounds like Mama’s maybe not keepin’ up her end of the bargain, but I guess we’ll circle back on that later.”

“I mean I’m not saying, I don’t know if you wanna write this down, I’m not saying that it was a space bear. I just, you know, not sorta a regular bear, you know?”

“Believe me, I know better than you might think. But I still don’t understand how you found the gate. It is unfortunate that you don’t know how ‘cause, buddy, I can’t let you leave here until I figure out where the hole in our security protocols lies.”

With that, Vincent removed his helmet, and as he did so, Duck noticed that the two goat horns on top of his head slid through openings in the helmet. He gingerly placed his helmet on the table between them and Duck’s mind reeled from being face to face with a goat.

 

* * *

 

Rebecca trudged through the woods behind Amnesty lodge with Mama and Aubrey. Mama led the way with an oil lantern in one hand, speaking over her shoulder to Aubrey.

“Now there’s somethin’ we need to show you, but before we do anything else Aubrey I need you to swear on your life that you’re not gonna tell another soul about what you learned tonight. Can you do that? I don’t want you to take this lightly, this is like end of the world level secret. I need your absolute discretion on this.”

“Mama, not only do I swear on my life, I swear on the life of Dr. Harris Bonkers, PhD.”

Rebecca raised her eyebrows at this. While the three of them went on their little expedition, Dr. Bonkers remained at the lodge with Dani. Rebecca jumped into the conversation, a little worried that Mama was coming on a little strong.

“We don’t want to scare you or anything, Aubrey, but it would be pretty messy if the wrong people knew about a place full of monsters and magic. People would be pretty quick to try to take advantage of it.”

“Let me reassure you right now. I can make fire with my mind. I’m not really scared of anything. So…”

“I know that, but it’s important you understand the gravity of the situation,” said Mama, “‘Cause I’ve dedicated my entire adult life to keepin’ that stuff out of the public eye. Rebecca is training day in and day out to do the same. It is the most important thing we do around these parts.”

“Uh-huh.”

It was hard for Rebecca to determine how sincere Aubrey’s response was. She could only hope that this new person could be trusted. After all, just like Mama said, she’d been tirelessly training to protect these people she’d found her home with. She couldn’t bear to think of anything bad happening to them.

“Okay, so, this other world, it’s called Sylvane. Sylvane, Aubrey, it’s an incredible place, it is a living world. And I mean that literally. Whole place is alive, sustaining its inhabitants with this magic power and that’s a thing that those inhabitants are understandably pretty protective of.

“But problem is throughout history, those gates on our side have been poppin’ up all over the place, and humans have been crossing over into Sylvane and making a mess of things. Made some bad blood between us and the Sylphs. It’s hard to blame either side, really, cuz where these gates appear on earth so do the, well, we call ‘em Abominations. But don’t you worry none ‘bout that though, that’s mine, Rebecca’s, and Barclay’s cross to bear, not yours. But the worse that things got in Sylvane, because of the humans, the stricter their laws got. And today they got some pretty Draconian laws in effect governing who can and can’t live there.

“The outcasts, well they don’t really got anywhere to go. I give those Sylphs a safe place to stay at Amnesty Lodge, and that seems about the least that I can do for ‘em. And Aubrey, I don’t know nothin’ about your life and what you want from it, but you could be safe there too, I think. Somehow you fit into this picture, I know it.”

“Okay!”

Aubrey seemed to light up a little at that and Rebecca smiled to herself. She remembered a time where she felt like she didn’t belong, a time before Mama found her and recruited her. Something about Aubrey reminded her of herself, and she couldn’t help trusting her a little bit more because of it.


End file.
